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Monday, 24 November 2014

Hi and welcome to my second post today, with a layout using black, white and silver.

The background is black with silver stamping around the edges. Music staff lines, notes and stars are in white.The title is a glitter silver chipboard.
The moonshots were taken by my son who patiently set up a tripod and listened to my 'artistic directions'. The moon on this particular night was so bright, and I wanted it shot through gaps in a tree in my garden. With height differences, what my son was seeing through the view-finder and what I was seeing through the trees was totally different, but we manged to get the shots I wanted in the end. (Journalling for this layout is on the back).
Just for a bit of fun I also edited this layout using a night feature on the computer print program I use. This is what it ended up like.

Hi and welcome. This month again has five Sundays, and in keeping with this, Anything But A Card Challenges is once more featuring the Number Five.

I have made a small hanging using five different, simple and quite fast techniques to change paper / card into very different looking backgrounds.

The large 5 has been gessoed and sprayed with Dylusions Ink Sprays while the gesso was still wet. When dry I resprayed some sections. This gave an interesting effect with a combination of some white, and different hues of blue.

The smaller 5 has been stamped using a self- made stamp. For this I used scraps left over from mounting stamps onto backing. These give great effects and you can change them to produce whatever patterns/designs you want whenever you want.

This 5 has again been stamped with a self-made stamp. I took a small block of wood and glued twine / wool on it in a design. They won't last forever, but it's surprising how much stamping you can do with just one application of ink or acrylic paint. If you like you don't have to glue the twine down. You can simply wrap it for an interesting effect.

The smaller 5 has been sprayed with various mists through a stencil The sprays were then fixed with a craft fixative spray.
The larger 5 has been done using a very interesting technique used at timetocreate, on one of our explore days. This simply involves using glossy photos (these can be the oops ones), Viva Modellier Creme ( a luscious, pearly / metallic modelling paste) and some alcohol inks. For this number I cut the photo into segments and glued them onto a backing piece before stencilling with the modelling paste. When dry I pounced over thew whole number with alcohol inks.

All of these techniques are designed to change paper to provide backgrounds for other projects. By using them you produce a piece that is totally unique and individual.
Pop on over to:anythingbutacard to have a look at what others in the team have created. We'd love to see what you come up with.

Saturday, 22 November 2014

Hi and welcome. Today I'm showing a layout featuring a photo taken in Tasmania in 2011.

After some research, we have discovered that the bird is a most likely a juvenile Pacific Gull and it wouldn't expect to have its adult colouration for another 3 to 4 years.
It was standing on one of many boulders overlooking a beautiful little inlet at St Helens in northern Tasmania. My son took the photo and we were able to move fairly close to it. It didn't seem at all perturbed that we were so close by. For the 10 - 15 minutes we were in the area it didn't move from its spot... just its head, ever so slightly.

The background paper was already patterned but I decided to add some additional texture by using some new Viva Modellier Creme (a beautiful, lush modelling creamy paste)... just had to try this out! This was applied through a stencil and when dried. lightly pounced with some alcohol ink... just for some additional impact.

The photo was mounted onto a bought frame cardstock from the same company as the background layer.. I think it was an old Bo Bunny stock. To this I added stamping as well as distressing, snippets of wool, fibre, shells, mother-of -pearl discs and beads.

Monday, 17 November 2014

Hi and welcome.
Today I'm sharing a quick upcycled project, one that lends itself to many different interpretations and themes... napkin or serviette rings.

For this project I've used the inner roll from aluminium foil, cut into lengths. These were covered with stamped laser colour paper (a thin card). The ends were glued and wrapped with metallic yarn. I added gold bows (shop bought) and small wooden stars coated with gold glitter flakes. A simple makeover, relatively fast to do... and it used up some bits and pieces I've had for some time.

There's still time to enter our challenge at Anything But A card this month... anything goes as long as it isn't a card. We'd love to see what you could do for this. Pop on over to:anythingbutacard and check out what the rest of the team has done, as well as the amazing entries that are already in.

Saturday, 15 November 2014

This month at ARTastic, we are using doodles to create added interest to our artwork. I've probably gone overboard with my doodling for this layout, but I find it quite therapeutic! This originally started out just in black and white, but I decided to add some colour, using Pan Pastels in some of the segments.

Doodles done with an ultra-fine sharpie.

The photo I've used is one of self, taken in 1974. I was dining out at the Italo-Australian Club in Lismore with my husband. This was one of our favourite places to have an enjoyable meal, authentic Italian, followed by dancing in the auditorium.

The inspiration picture of these quirky hens have lots of loops and dots doodled around them. I chose these elements when designing some of the sections. I also used music notes... the chooks must have music to dance to, mustn't they?

Picture by Antje Collis... "Tra-La-La"

Also, I was given the opportunity, at ARTastic to present the Tips, Tricks and Techniques segment for the month and continued with the doodling theme, producing some card fronts using the same techniques. This time, instead of using a photo as a focal pint I used stamps. I took some of the stamp features to turn into design elements.

Black and white... again ultra-fine black sharpie

Laser paper smooshed with distress inks before doodling

Colour added with ultra- fine sharpies.

There's till time to show us your doodling. We'd love to see what you come up with. Pop on over to:artastic to see what the rest of our team has been up to.
Happy doodling.
Cheers, Di

Saturday, 1 November 2014

Hi and welcome. This month, Pixels and Paper is having a joint challenge with Child's Play Challenges, using our photo inspiration and adding extra criteria from Child's Play. This is an opportunity for you to enter both challenges, using the same layout.

For my layout, I used the hint of blue showing in the inspiration photo as my main colour, the teddy, lace and vintage look. From Child's Play, I added the extra criteria of three patterned papers, gold, bling, an animal, and something at least one year old (photo of dog, plus embellishment of an iris folded teddy, gold Prima flower (also more than a year old), bling around teddy's neck and on the camera embellishment).

Close-up of teddy embellishment. The layers of paper were put onto a cream-coloured background which was then cut out to the teddy shape and stamped with new metallic chalk edgers... liking these!

The title for my page is an embossing folder sentiment and particularly apt for the photos I have chosen to use.

Papers were heavily distressed and inked. In sections where I tore and then rolled, I inserted snippets of lace or another paper.
The photos were of one of Julie's (Time to Create) little divas that always greets us enthusiastically every time we go to play. Bella and Angel love to be included in everything going on, but Angel, in particular would often jump onto a chair, her paws on the table in front of a work mat with an expectant look on her face, as if to say :"Where's mine?" On this particular day, she wasn't the only one sharing the workspace. Julie launched a new product and we thought it would be fun to include our teddies (because the product was a teddy stamp set). However, Angel was less than impressed with her furry company.... and Bella, to a lesser extent. The stress levels of both little ones rose to the stage where we had to remove the teddies from the work area. We were certainly smiling and laughing... much, before we could start our class for the day.
Even though both little ladies are less agile now, they certainly still do make us smile.

We'd love to see you come and play with us this month. Pop on over to:Pixels and Paper to have a look at our inspiration photo and what our team has done and while you're there, also pop over to:Child's Play Challenges and see what their design team have been up to.

Thanks for popping by and for lovely comments you leave. I always find these encouraging and uplifting.
Cheers for now,
Di.